The leader of the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday described the alleged Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus earlier this week as a "turning point" with consequences.
Nasrallah, during a rally to mark Jerusalem Day, said Hezbollah is not afraid of any war with Israel and is "well prepared."
The Hezbollah leader spoke to a crowd gathered at the group's stronghold in a southern Beirut suburb. He appeared, as usual, via video link. Hezbollah fighters clad in milita fatigues and some wearing masks on their faces were in the crowd.
He called on his people to be prepared and ready.
Meanwhile thousands of Iranian protesters called for retribution as a funeral procession took place on Friday for members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) killed by the suspected Israeli airstrike in Syria.
Two brigadier generals and five other members of the powerful Iranian army unit died on Monday in the attack on the Iranian embassy compound in the Syrian capital Damascus.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry assumes Israel carried out the strike, and the US government also believes Israel was responsible.
Israel has not commented on the incident, but an Iranian military response is now widely expected by the Israeli government and its ally the United States, the news website Axios quoted US and Israeli officials as saying.
According to the newspaper Times of Israel and the news website ynet, 28 Israeli embassies around the world remained closed on Friday due to fears of an imminent Iranian retaliatory strike.
The commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, renewed Iran's threats against Israel.
"No action by the enemy" of the Islamic Republic will go unanswered, the major general told supporters during the demonstrations.
Friday's protests in Iran were held on Al-Quds Day, which traditionally brings out hundreds of thousands of government supporters.
Introduced in 1979 by the then Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini, the state-organized rallies always take place on the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan.
The country's spiritual and political leadership use the day to call for the conquest of Jerusalem.
The background to this is the occupation of the eastern part of Jerusalem by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem, with the Farsi version similar.
Iran, which has long called for Israel to be wiped out, has been especially enraged by the Jewish state's bombardment of the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also described Iran as the country's most significant enemy.
Netanyahu has threatened consequences in the event of an Iranian attack on his country.
"Iran has been acting against us for years, both directly and through its proxies; that is why Israel is taking action against Iran and its proxies, defensively and offensively," Netanyahu said at the start of a meeting of the Israeli security Cabinet on Thursday evening.
"We will know how to defend ourselves and we will act according to the simple principle: Whoever harms us or plans to harm us, we will harm them," Netanyahu said.
The Iranian threats against Israel were also discussed in a telephone conversation between US President Joe Biden and Netanyahu on Thursday. According to the White House, Biden made it clear that the US supports Israel in the face of such threats.
US support for Israel to defend itself against a range of threats remains "unwavering," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.
The US relationship with Israel has suffered of late because of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip in the wake of Israel's war on the Palestinian enclave, which followed a major terrorist attack by Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas in October.
Israel had told its ally that if Iran launched an attack on Israel from its soil in retaliation for the deadly attack in Syria, it would face a strong response from Israel and this would take the current conflict to another level, Axios quoted Israeli officials as saying.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari confirmed on Thursday evening that the GPS positioning system in the country had been deliberately jammed on Wednesday in order to "neutralize threats."
He did not specify where exactly this had happened. Israeli media speculated that the threats from Iran were the reason for this.
However, Hagari wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that it was not necessary to buy generators, stockpile food and withdraw money from ATMs.
In view of the tense security situation, a temporary leave ban has been imposed on Israeli combat units. In addition, reservists are to be mobilized for missile defence.
